Tomorrow begins the month of October!!! OCTOBER!!! Can you believe it? This year is flying by already, but I am so excited about all of the fun ahead! This month lends itself to so many fun activities in the classroom...especially around Halloween! One of my favorite projects is only weeks away...Pumpkin Book Reports! Or in this year's case...Pumpkin Biographies!

Basically...

You Take This...

{Hey...who said trick or treat bags are just for candy???}

Fill it up with some good story element treats...

Complete an extreme makeover...pumpkin edition....

And you have yourself the not so typical book report.

Here are a few more examples

I have created a Trick or Treat Book Report resource packed with 77 pages of information, resources and examples. This unit includes two levels. One for all of you kindergarten and first grade peeps, and one for us "oldies but goldies" rockin' it out in second - sixth. Here is a look at what this sweet little treat includes.

You can pick this unit up at my TPT shop!

Or if you prefer...Pumpkin Biographies! Same concept...different books! You get the idea!

I promise...once you do this little project...it will be a holiday tradition forever! If you would like to incorporate this into your fall activities, stop by my lil' TPT store and pick up a copy! Plus...these units are currently on sale!!!!

October is on the horizon!Let the fun begin!I'm so excited to have created a zip file for TpT of my classic original children's song, "Monster Spray" in an Mp3 version complete with Pdf's of support. I'm new at Teachers Pay Teachers and its so exciting to be able to offer my songs in an instantaneous fashion. I wrote this song as a tool for children to face down their fears and overcome them. This song would make the perfect addition to your monster read-alouds for next month. I've got the chorus lyrics into form for you to print the phrases and add them to your pocket chart.

Yesterday I had a MAMMOTH MONSTER post with a couple dozen ideas of creative activities to create around the monster-theme. You'll want to go to my blog for those ideas. OH!!!! The best part? My entire store is on sale this weekend to give you some extra incentive to come over.

Debbie Clement

RainbowsWithinReach

I have an entire pinterest board with 372 pins devoted to monsters!I'm now up to 63,843 followers at Pinterest: Yeah!

I have a very special opportunity for you over on my blog for the next week. I have a bit of a heavy heart this week because of a certain little boy named Lane. He's currently in a battle against a rare childhood cancer (stage 4) and needs all the prayers and support he can get. I decided to host a fundraiser that combines helping out Lane and getting some awesome products to use in your classroom. You can get a ginormous pack of 50 TPT items (valued at $250) for just $30. Do the math.... pretty sweet deal. :) Every bit of money will be sent to Lane's family after the drive ends next week. You should come on over, learn more about Lane, check out the items that so many amazing teachers donated, and find out how you can help.

I want to say thank you, from the bottom of my heart, to all of the teachers who have so graciously donated an item for this. And also to those of you who give. I cannot wait until next week when we get to send off the funds we raise! Thanks!

Happy Sunday, Blog Hoppin' Friends!! Kerri B from Teacher Bits and Bobs here...I am here to talk to you about my friend and yours, Johnny Appleseed! We made these UBER-CUTE art projects on Friday to celebrate good ole Johnny, and I think they are just the Bees-Nees! Check them out...

This project has 2 parts- a kid-created apple tree (I don't ever use patterns. My kiddos cut all the shapes themselves!) and a step-draw Johnny Appleseed. Last year, we created very elaborate apple trees (click here for that post) but this year, I cheaped out a TEENSY BIT and we simplified our trees, since Johnny was added to the project. :) I ALWAYS have my kids watch me do each step first, and then I pass out the piece of paper we are working on and they follow the directions I showed them. We call it "I do, then you do." I also usually start my projects at the bottom and work my way up, to ensure that they don't run out of room for everything.Here are the paper dimensions and steps for helping your little artists create their own apple trees (all pieces are construction paper)!

Blue background- 12 inch x 18 inch blue paperGreen grass- 2 inch x 9 inch green strip of paper. Instruct your kids to cut a zigzag, or crocodile teeth all the way down one side of the paper and then glue this to the bottom of blue paper. I always remind my babies, "No flying grass! Make sure it is glued to the very bottom of the paper!"Brown trunk- 12 inch x 4 inch dark brown paper. This piece is cut with wavy lines up both sides of the paper. I LOVE this step because their trunks come out SOOOO WONKY. It is FABULOUS! The trunk needs to be glued under the green grass.Green leaves- 6 inch x 9 inch green paper. First, cut a "magic oval"-meaning cut the big corners and then the baby corners off the paper. You will get a perfect oval or circle EVERY TIME! :)After cutting the paper into an oval, cut around the edges with a wavy cut and Badaboom! You have your leaves! Glue this OVER the brown trunk.Yellow sun- 3 inch x 3 inch yellow paper. Cut a magic square (see above. It is the same as a magic oval). This gets glued in either top corner.Red Apples- cut 1.5 x 1.5 inch pieces of tissue paper and show your kidlets how to scrunch each piece up and glue onto tree. I even let my kiddos glue 2 (only 2!!) on the ground and 1 (only 1!!) falling out of the tree! I know, I'm so nice and generous, right??

(As you can see from exhibit A above, one of my darlings did NOT follow these directions! Grrr...)TADA!! Very cute AND totally original apple trees! YAY!!Now, onto Johnny. I created a little one page tutorial of this step-draw. We used a 9 inch x 6 inch piece of white construction paper for this. Again, my kids always watch me first and then do the step themselves....

Click on the picture above to a get a copy of this one page tutorial via Google Docs!

After we drew him in pencil, I let my kids use the coveted SHARPIES. Yes, it's true. They get to trace in sharpie. They feel oh-so-grown-up using these, and they are SUPER careful since I warn them that SHARPIE will NEVER EVER COME OUT, so you BETTER NOT GET IT ANYWHERE! (Strong enough warning??) At any rate, it works! They are sooooo super careful!

After the sharpies, obviously we colored him in, and I am proud to say that not ONE of my kiddos colored a green or purple face this year, which is AWESOME. I think my dire warnings and my stink eye is really working on them-HA!

The final step is called "Bubble cut" and I always cringe when I see them doing this step. It is so counter-intuitive for them NOT to cut on the lines after hearing me harp on all day about making sure they are cutting on the lines! Poor things!

The reason we bubble cut (meaning leaving a little white border around the edge) is because if they cut on the lines their all their hard SHARPIE work would go bye-bye and it would look hideous!

FINALLY, we glued Mr. Appleseed on the bottom and you have what the artsy types call "Perspective", meaning something in the foreground and something else in the background (I think??) We also talk about this fancy art word and they are impressed with themselves!

Whew!! I am tired just remembering it all!! I promise you, your kiddos will learn SOOOO much from this art project, and your classroom will be filled with original masterpieces!

Head on over to my blog (click on my blog button below) to snag a couple more Johnny Appleseed FREEBIES, like this:

I thought I would host a little linky where we could share how we display birthdays. My birthday display has evolved over the years from store bought cakes to the one I have now. One thing has always remained the same - I have always photographed my students holding up their birthdate. Click the here to read more about my birthday board display. Link up below with your birthday board!

I couldn't be more excited to become part of the Blog Hoppin' team! Let me tell you, this is one of the first blogs that got me addicted to interested in teaching blogs. It's not everyday that you run across a collaborative blog with so many amazing and talented teachers, so I'm so grateful to become part of the team. It's humbling and a little bit overwhelming. Especially having to follow a post from Debbie Clement. :) I hope I don't put you to sleep...

I'm not REALLY an addict. I don't think. Is denial a sign? One of my best friends (and roommate) in college called me a 'school supply addict' after she discovered that I had amassed a closet full of crayons, paper, pencils, cardstock, stickers, glue, etc. all in anticipation of having my first classroom. My excuse was that I kept running into really good sales and needed to stock up. This was a year before I graduated. Although I still have strong urges to purchase mass quantities of 20 cent crayons and half-price packs of 3000 popsicle sticks, my addiction has morphed a bit.... to online resources.

We'll get to that in a minute, but a few facts you may need to know:

I have experience in Pre-K, Kindergarten, assessment, technology, and currently teach three different levels of EFL (6-7 year olds, 7-10 year olds, and teenagers).

I'm from Kentucky, but currently live in Switzerland. Yes. Cheese, chocolate, wine, cows, and the Alps. My husband and I have another year over here and then it's back to 'the states.'

I don't like reading non-teaching books. There. I said it. A teacher who dislikes reading. However, you better believe that my students think I love it! That's a secret they'll never know. :)

I'm a dog person. If I didn't teach, then I'd live on a farm and open a dog shelter... and a frozen yogurt shop... with a wine bar inside... and a coffee shop next door. I would also consider hanging posters of Ryan Gosling and Jude Law everywhere. Like a 14 year old girl.

My (amazing) husband and I

I started my little blogging adventure a little over a year ago and it has been nothing short of amazing. I've connected with so many amazing teachers and learned over a bazillion things that I can use with my students. It's truly helped me become a more effective and efficient teacher.

My blog/website is probably a little different than most you've come across. Before I began, I had this ginormous list of links to ideas I had found online. It was an organized Excel file, but wasn't that useful. I'm a very visual person and had the idea of combining a blog with static pages and pictures. Pictures of everything. Literally.

In addition to my blog, there are over 100 pages on my site organized by content or areas that pertain to teaching. My goal?

Connect teachers with great resources... lots of them.

You'll find my products and ideas alongside countless others from amazing teachers, many of whom write for Blog Hoppin'! The one thing I always try to do is add some sort of visual for you to SEE what it is. Plus I add short descriptions, what level it's for, where it's from, whether it's free, a paid item, or idea, and the links to access it. I try to make it as simple as possible and I add lots of new things every week!

I hope you get a chance to come check it out! I'm sure you find something you can use. A word of caution though: It's addicting. You're going to need a bit of time (and coffee) to browse through everything. I've been reprimanded by several friends for 'taking up way too much of their time'. Hahaha.... I will NOT apologize. :)

How about starting at one of the pages below? It's that time of year again!

I hope you enjoy and that it makes your life a little bit easier! I'd love to have you join me on Facebook as well! I do a lot of random giveaways and interact a lot with fans.

Currently I am a 'music-lady' morphed into an Author/Illustrator of picture books. Previously I had been the resource teacher at a private school for young children with special needs. I'm a HUGE visual learner and adore Pinterest. [I'm nearing 60,000 followers and have nearly 20K pins organized for you by category.]

Here's my latest installment in my directories of Pinterest People by category. This time the list is for those who have a board or an entire collection of boards on Pinterest that are dedicated to 'special needs' and 'special education.'

These boards are an absolute wealth of resources on all things from IEP development around Common Core to sensory integration, therapy, tools and support systems for parents and teachers. These are your go-to people who are already cultivating resources for you on Pinterest.

Did you see my earlier directory for Art Teachers + Teaching Artists? If you're looking for Art projects this is the directory for you to mine and the people you'll want to follow to make your life easier.

You are more than welcome to add your Pinterest URL to as many directories as are suitable for your collection.

My latest endeavor is to open a Teachers Pay Teachers store and offer my music as digital downloads. I'd LUV to have you follow me there as well. Here's the direct link to my freebie Mp3 "Going to the Library." Can I get an 'oh yeah?'

I know we all have a lot of different ways that we manage behavior in our classroom. Natalie and I are hosting a linky party to share those ideas! Come and join in on the fun. Our favorite 3 ideas will be featured on our blog next week!!!!

I just completed my Croptoberfest! This is a collection of fall themed work stations for any Kindergarten classroom!

Click to Link

Included:

Alpha Acorns: Students work to match the capital letter (acorns) to the lowercase letter (squirrels).

Counting Crows: Students work to match the correct tens frame (crows) to
the number (scarecrow). A second game with number words (scarecrow) is
included for differentiation.

Leafy Letters: Students work to place leaves in ABC order. Each task
card provides three random letters. Students will determine the order
and record in the tree!

Pumpkin Parts: Students work to determine parts of a whole using domino frames.

Tasty Tallys: Students work to match tallys (apples) to the
corresponding number (apple grove). A second game with number words
(apple grove) is included for differentiation.

Click to Expand View

If you are interested, I have a several pictures of a crafty weekend. Included are a great box to hide your husbands remotes. LOL! And a fun way to incorporate choice and control in Daily 5 rotations!!

Blog Hoppin' is a collaborative blog of educators from various grade levels and is in NO way affiliated with the owners of Teachers Pay Teachers {TpT/teacherspayteachers.com} The opinions and ideas expressed on this site are reflective of the individual educator/author. Thank you.